Hitching device



E. HUMMELL. HITGHING DEVICE. ,319. Patented Aug. 25, .1896.

` (No Model.)

No.v 566 NITED STATES uPATENT FFICE..

EMANUEL HUMMELL, OF BLOOMSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

HITCHING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 566,319, dated August 25, 1896. Application filed August 81, 1895. Serial No. 561,142. (No model.)

To LZZ whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, EMANUEL HUMMELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bloomsburg, in the county of Columbia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Hitchin g Device, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to bitching devices and is applicable either to outdoor posts or to stalls and inangers.

My object is to provide a weighted strap which may either freely play up and down through a slotted neck or be firmly clamped therein, being thereby adapted to suitably fasten both quiet and restive horses, so that the former may have freedom to toss the head and the latter may be fastened close up. My device also insures that a horse shall not get his leg over the strap or his head thereunder. It is also provided with a swivel arrangement to prevent lateral wear on the strap when pulled sidewise. To satisfy the above requirement-s and ob jects, my invention consists in the various details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my complete device. Fig. 2is a central longitudinal section thereof with the cla1nping-lever in operative position. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section of the head, taken on line .fr oc of Fig. 2, but showing the clamping-lever in inoperative position. Fig. f1 is an inverted horizontal section on liner] y of Fig. 2.

Referring to the parts by numerals, 1 designates the well or hollow post, provided at its front side with door 2, properly hinged and latched, and adapted to receive strap 3, which has a weight f1 attached to its lower end and a snap-hook 5 at its upper end. This strap passes out through head 6. Head 6 comprises a circular base 7, provided with a circumferential groove 8, adapted to turn in swivel-socket 9, and an upwardly-projecting neck 10, curved forward at its back 12.

This head is cast in two similar halves secured.

together by bolt 13, and each half is provided on its inner side with a longitudinal strapgroove 14, outwardly curved at and provided with rounded lips 16, and a rear chamber 17, extending from the lower end of groove 14. Each half is also cut away at` 18 to form a slot for the clamping-lever 19, which is pivoted therein on spindle 20, which may be cast in one half and a hole bored in the other half to receive the opposite end of said spindle. Clamping-lever 19 is provided at its inner end with a transverse head 21, straight on its forward end, which is slightly beveled and so hung on spindle 20 that head 21 will swing in close proximity to the front wall of strap-groove 14 and tightly bind the strap 3 therebetween in its clamped position.

Surrounding head 6 is sectional swivelsocket 9, formed in two halves and provided with an internal bead or iiange 22 to receive groove 8 of the head, and formed straight on its rear edge 23 to brace firmly against manger-box 21. Said socket 9 is also provided with a depending flange 25 to receive the retaining-strap 26, whose screw-threaded ends 27 are passed th rough the manger-box 24 and Flange 25 may be integral with or secured to cap 30, which is provided at the upper end of well 1.

The parts are assembled on top of the post orwell 1 by bringing the opposing faces of-thc two halves of head 6 together with the projecting spindle end 20, carrying lever 19, seated in its bearing. The parts are then secured by bolt 13, the halves of socket 9 are brought together in groove 8, and the whole is secured by strap 26 at the desired location in the box-stall, manger, or elsewhere.

Now if it is desired to allow the horse some freedom, the snap-hook 5 is snapped into the bridle or halter and clamping-lever 19 is not operated. In this position weight 4 keeps the strap taut whether the horse stands near to or away from the head 6, so that he cannot paw his foot over the strap nor toss said strap over his head. If it is desired to fasten the horse short up, the strap is accordingly clamped tightly in place by depressing lever 19 into horizontal position. If the horse pulls sidewise, the head swings around by means of its swivel arrangement and thereby saves the lateral strain and wear of the strap. If the strap or chain gets wedged or caught on the head of lever 19, the projecting roof of charnsecured thereto by nuts 28 and washers 29.

ICO

ber 17 cooperates with transverse head 2i. of lever 19, as the latter is swung up, to release said strap or chain.

The lever 19 is pivoted intermediate of its ends, and the upper arm or portion of the lever is heavier than the lower arm and is adapted when it is swung downward to hold the lower portion in engagement with the strap, whereby when a horse pulls upon the strap the lever will automatically clamp the same and hold it, and when the upper portion of the lever is swung upward it lies beyond the pivoial point and holds the lower clamping portion out of engagement with the strap.

What I claim isl. In a hitching device, the combination of a hollow post or well, a sectional swiveled socket mounted on the post or well, a head swiveled in said socket, capable of a rotary movement and provided with an aperture engaging with the interior of the post or well, a bitching-strap passing through the aperture and provided at its lower end with a weight arranged within the post or well, and alock* ing-lever fulcrumed intermediate of its ends on the swiveled head, carried by the same, and having its lower portion arranged to engage frictionally the hitching-strap at a point below the orifice of the head to lock the strap against inward or outward movement, the upper portion of the locking -lever being heavier than the lower portion and arranged to swing in advance and in rear of the pivot or fulcrum, whereby the upper portion is adapted to hold the lever out of engagement when swung forward, and is capable, when swung rearward, of maintaining the lower portion in position to engage the strap automatically when the latter is drawn outward, substantially as described.

2. In a hitching device, the combination with a hollow post or well, of a head comprising a circular base provided with a peripheral groove, and an upwardly-extendin g neck projecting iiush with the front of said base, said head being provided with a longitudinal aperture passing through said base and neck and outwardly bent at its upper end and pro vided at its rear wall with a lever-slot, a lever arranged in said slot and fulcrumed intermediate of its ends on the head and having a lower clamping portion and an upper portion of greater weight than the lower portion adapted to be swung in advance and in rear of the pivot or fulcrum to hold its lower p0rtion out of engagement or in position for automatic engagement, a swivel-socket made in halves provided with an internal iiange adapted to fit said peripheral groove, securely clamped around said base and affixed to the top of said post, and a weighted strap adapted to hang in said well and project through said longitudinal slot and to be clamped intermediately in adjusted position by said lever-head, subsiantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

EMANUEL HUMMELL.

Vitnesses:

S. C. KELLER, MARGARET LAUBACH. 

